Expert panel to take final call soon

An apex committee of experts, which approves textbooks, on Saturday appeared dissatisfied with the Thorat panel recommendations on deletion of some cartoons from CBSE textbooks and is expected to take a final call on the issue soon.

The National Monitoring Committee (NMC), which examined the recommendations, decided to set up a sub-committee to prepare a formal response to the panel’s recommendations and submit it by next week.

“Simultaneously, the textbook development committee on political science would work with NCERT director and make whatever changes are required keeping in mind the public debate on some cartoons,” said an NCERT statement after a five-hour meeting here.

The statement, however, did not elaborate on the nature of changes though sources said the controversial cartoons on B.R. Ambedkar and the one relating to anti-Hindi agitation in Tamil Nadu could be axed.

The intentions of many of Tamil Nadu's politicians are quite questionable. They are invoking cartoon row only for gaining political mileage but have never questioned CBSE for non-implementation of the Tamil language as a compulsory subject unlike other states like Maharashtra which have made their language a compulsory subject - in spite of a court order in this regard upheld six years ago. The politicians in Tamil Nadu have either total disrespect or probably complete hatred for the Tamil language - the bitter truth is that most of them do not speak the Tamil language in their own homes!